I'd like to get the ball rolling on an All-Time fan favorite team for VT players. This list doesn't need to include the most talented players; but rather the players that the fans identified with and rooted for the hardest. I am currently in the most useless computer based training for my job, so I cannot compile it myself without arousing way too much attention for my continuous typing.
Some initial thoughts on types of players
Eddie Royal
Greg Boone
Sam Rogers
Tyrod
Coale
Grimm
Curious to see the names that I didn't get a chance to watch in person..
Yes..the time between the last game and the bowl is a dry time indeed
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Dustin Pickle, 2008 would have to be on the list as a fan favorite.
Ben Taylor, 2001
Corey Price, 2006
Colin Carroll, 2011
My favorite Hokies to watch growing up were:
Ken Oxendine
Keion Carpenter
Antionio Banks
DUSTIN PICKLE!!!
Went to school with all the Pickles bros. Good guys!
Pickle for sure. He saluted the Corps section before every kickoff and they even invited him to speak at one of the Corps Labs. I think someone else started to do this as well this season, but don't remember who it was.
Cool story. I did not know this. Sounds like a great dude.
Marcus
VickerrDavisHmm, maybe we should stop recruiting people with the name Marcus?
Best place kicking holder of all-time: Caleb Hurd
http://thorsanchez.users2.50megs.com/Hurd/caleb.htm
runner-up: Grant Throckmorton. I once got way too excited when I saw him at Hokkaido.
Kenny Lewis Jr may have to be on the list - because of all of his medical hardships, fans wanted to see him on the field.
Good call. I remember him, was some tough breaks (no pun intended)
John Engelberger would have to be on this list.
He is the standard bearer for the Legend of the Hokie Walk-on.
James Anderson and Darryl Tapp. Both immensely popular as people, not just athletes.
I always bring this story up, but I was at the fall 05 graduation when Tapp walked across the stage. That is still the only commencement ceremony that I've attended during which the proceedings had to stop because the person whose name was called received a standing ovation.
Kam Chancellor
Brandon Flowers
Xavier Adibi & Vince Hall (Do they count as one?)
And on Offense,
Jeff King
I think Jeff King is a great choice. He had such reliable hands, great player.
Jeff King played on my intermural basketball team. We would have won it all had he not had to start 2-a-days for football. The following year..walked on the VT basketball team that beat Duke. The guy can play. I remember he always wanting to run point even at 6'8. We had to tell him to just destroy people down low and occasionally run the break.
Bet that was a fun team!
Used to ref inter-murals, and remember having a game with a team that had a DB, CB, some JV football guys and Travis Jackson who had just graduated and was on the 1995 NIT winning team. They put up 121 points in an inter-mural game!!!
Jeff King is 6' 5" tops...
I will always have a special place in my heart for Richard Johnson
Corey Moore was just a QB chasin backfield wreckin machine.
COREY MOORE! He was the best! He was still there my Freshman and Sophomore year. When we saw him on campus once, my roommate had a visible start, which Corey noticed, walked out of his way to say hello to us and he made us feel like he'd been waiting all day to see us. Just an absolutely awesome dude. Plus, he dubbed Lane the Terror Dome. Corey Moore has got to be like the first person on this team.
Really? Must i really be the first guy to say Michael Vick?
Mike Vick is definitely one of the greatest Hokies, and probably a fan favorite. For me personally, my favorite Hokies are the walk-ons and the unheralded recruits who made good.
Like Engelberger, Grimm, and all of the others who came to Blacksburg, busted their asses in weight room, and carried that chip that said, "I might not have five stars, or a 4.2 40 time, but I will outwork you, and I'm not afraid to punch ANYBODY in the mouth. Anytime. Anyplace.
Agreed. Gotta love a guy who plays and practices like he's got something to prove.
Danny Coale, Bryan Randall, David Wilson, Xavier Adibi, Bruce Smith, Cyrus Lawrence, Chris Kinzer, Tyrod, Jeff King, Jim Druckenmiller, Ike Charleton, Ben Taylor, Cody Grimm
I loved watching Xavier Adibi. It also helped that it was fun to throw up the "X" with your arms after he did anything great.
It was easier to just keep your arms x-ed since he was doing something amazing every 5 minutes.
His older brother Nathaniel was a Hokie favorite as well; I remember when Xavier committed hoping he could be as good as his brother; he was.
Difficult to say, but I think X was BETTER than his brother. What year was it where he was injured the first 4-5 games, came in the second half of the season, and by the end of the year was in the top 10 in the nation is his position, led the team in tackles, and was something like 2nd in TFL?
The Adibi/Hall years were FANTASTIC for our defense. If I recall correctly, those were the years we finished 1st in the nation in Defense.
I believe that was 2004. I think he returned for the GT game in Atlanta and was a BEAST! See Top Play #9 below (0:53 mark):
Correct you are. If I recall correctly they thought he was gonna miss the whole season. He came back and basically ran spy on Reggie Ball the entire second half. Fun fact: it actually wasn't Xavier who turned the tide for us. I put my lucky hat on at halftime and wore that thing for every game after. I lost it however before the Pitt game last year. Coincidence? I think not.
Qb is going to be competative on this list. Had a string of fan favorites.
QB:Vick, Tyrod, Randall
WR: Andre Davis, Coale, Royal, Wilford (I liked him even including the Miami drop)
RB: too many, but I'd go Huuuuuumes
FB: Ferguson, Rogers,
TE: King, Booooooone,
LB: Grimm, Adibi, Hall,
CB: Flowers, D. Hall
S: Rouse, Chancellor
DT: Colas, #MANBEARPIG,
DE: Tapp, Moore
Punter: Vinne Burns, Nic Schmidt (gotta have the 300 lb punter)
K: Graham
KR: Wilson
This is off the top of my head.
That head is full of Hokie Highlight reels
ctrl+F'd Schmidt, was not disappointed.
Punter was the biggest dude on the field. Still hilarious.
Humes, yes!!!!
Antone "Best Buy Santa-Island Daycare-Centaur on a Treadmill" Exum!
Can't believe I forgot Exum and #ALLTHEFULLERS. I need to go watch highlights from 1995+ now just to watch these guys again.
The Fullers
HOW DID IT TAKE THIS LONG TO MENTION THE FULLERS. Vince, for the field goal block return for a touchdown against WVU. Corey for all of the touchdowns. Kyle for the Georgia Tech game this year. Kendall for three picks against Duke (I don't know the final score of that game, though).
DID YOU KNOW THAT PEANUTS PROBABLY ORIGINATED IN PARAGUAY?
Really? That's fascinating.
If its fan favorites, then we have to include Mark Leal [/sarcastica]
Seriously though: In addition to people named already, I would add AJ Hughes and Alonzo Tweedy.
If you don't have Brandon Flowers on your list, then I find it difficult to believe you have watched the last 20 years of Hokie football. Not only a great player, but so fun to watch. JC Price and Cornell Brown were so much fun to watch. Jarrett Ferguson, Jim Pyne, and Ryan Williams were on that list. Chris Drager was fun as a TE.
HATED Greg Boone. If he had blocked half as hard as he ran when he got snaps at QB, he would have been one hell of a player. Couldn't stand DeAngelo Hall or Marcus Vick. Watching them was like rooting for Eric Lindros or Jaromir Jagr playing for the Rangers. I tolerated the success, but I felt dirty cheering. Even Michael could drive you nuts (going the wrong way on the option.) Nick Marshman was on my chateau bow wow list as well.
Oh my God! Watching Flowers line up and jack Drew Weatherford during the only Blacksburg FSU win earned him a spot.
Let's go back to the 70's:
Don Strock, QB (he gave us some relevance in a Dan Henning air-raid offense)
Rick Razzano, LB (imagine Jack Tyler at 150% or the Raz in a Foster D)
Cyrus Lawrence, RB (tough as nails and your 30 plus carries per game)
Wayne Lattimer, PK (enough to say 61 yard field goal and Tech 13 - FSU 10)
Who else?
As a '79 grad, I agree 100%, particularly on Cyrus & Razzano. Corey Moore, Jesse Penn, Bruce Smith, Jim Pyne, Jake Grove, MV. What about PK Chris Kinzer? I was at the '86 Peach Bowl when he nailed a 46-yarder in driving rain to win the game.
How about Kinzer beating LOLUVA
and then flipping the bird at their sideline?
Macho Harris, terrific guy and a good player. Brandon Flowers, Tyrod Taylor, Ben Taylor, James Anderson (still mad the Panthers traded him), John Engelberger, Andre Davis, Willie Pile, Bryan Randall.
And after having a chance to talk to him this year, Brandon Facyson is definitely going to be on my list. Outstanding guy, has his head on straight and is humble.
Randall, Suggs, Rogers, Grove, Duane Brown, Ed Wang (sorry), Nosal, Brandon Frye, King, Royal, Coale , Ferguson
Corey Moore, Kevin Lewis, Cordarrow Thompson, Darryl Tapp, Hall, Adibi, Kam, Fuller #1, Macho, Willie Pile
George del Ricco
Antonio Freeman
Jake Grove
3RDANDLOGAN
Nobody ever talks about Jake Houseright. Probably the best linebacker to ever play for VT barring injuries.
Some others that rarely get mentioned on TKP:
Cullen Hawkins
Nick Sorenson
Ernest wilford
Nathaniel Adibi
John Engelberger
Dave Pugh
Ben Taylor
Bryan Randall
Lee Suggs
Eddie Royal
Jeff King
Shawn Witten (still pissed that Jason didn't follow in his brother's footsteps)
Jarrett Ferguson
Sergio Render
Duane Brown
Jim Druckenmiller
Alonzo Tweedy
Dave Meyer
Shyrone Stith
Andre Davis
Eddie Royal
Kenny Lewis
Cory Bird
The Lewis Brothers (Johnathan and Kevin)
Jake Grove
And the man that made Virginia Tech football relevant in the first place -- Michael Vick.
Turkey Leg for Hawkins - loved watching him play!
Very nice - brings back memories of watching the Hokies in the early 90's - what great players we had that helped get the program where it is today.
Not sure if Jake was almost the best linebacker to play at VT, but he was a very good linebacker who was essentially playing on one leg. If only he could have been healthy. He was a spectacular football player and an elite athlete.
Anybody remember Brandon Semones?
Franks nephew.... Walk on from single A glenvar....all big east lb! Great pick!!!
Much of this list is awesomeness, particularly Shyrone Stith. Loved that dude and he's the reason Billy Hite still hates Mel Kiper, whose draft projections convinced Stith to leave early and he flamed out.
But...Dave Meyer? Deep Ball Dave? You serious, brah? The only thing I remember about him was some spot appearances for Al Clark and arguing with my roommate that Deep Ball Dave was gonna be the man the following season. My roommate said we had some guy redshirting named Nick or Vick or something like that who was supposed to be pretty good. Clearly one of us was a dumbass.
I respect Dave Meyer. He made a commitment to Virginia Tech football, and could have transferred when he lost the starting job the spring before his Sophomore year to Al Clark, knowing full well that a kid named Mike Vick was going to come in and take the helm after a redshirt season.
Instead, he stayed in Blacksburg, making good on the commitment he had made to the team a couple years earlier. He continued to work his ass off to be the most dependable backup he could be in case he was ever needed (which, we would come to find out, was frequent).
He was never a spectacular quarterback, but he was consistently good when he was needed. I still believe that 2000 could have been even more special than 1999 if we had just played Meyer the entire Miami game, instead of trying to get Vick out there hobbling around on a bum leg and losing by 20. The fact that he continued to be a leader in the locker room throughout his 3 years of riding the pine means a lot to me.
Fair enough, thank you for that. More history than I was aware of.
A few more - all Members of the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame -
QB Don Strock
LB Mike Widger
OL Jim Pyne
WR Carroll Dale
DB Frank Loria
I remember a guy, I think his name was Chris shreiver? I could be wrong on that spelling. He was a white wr who would always make the tough catch and was very reliable. I think he was number 81. There was a story in the Roanoke times about how his girlfriend was kidnapped in Roanoke and he went and found her all by his self. He also was a walk on as well, just an all around good dude.
I also have to mention Lamar Cobb. He was a beast at defensive end for us and he wore number 28, also I loved watching ronyell Whitaker play for us, Larry fitz gave him FITS, see what I did there?, when we played pit but he was a good cb and punt returner.
Chris Shreve actually. Walk-on from Grayson County of all places. I remember he caught two touchdown passes against Rutgers in 03. I remember one article said he was the third fastest player on the team behind Marcus Vick and Deangelo Hall.
Sergio Render anybody???
Given that name, ARE you Sergio Render?
No, I wish I was though... How could you not like a 315 pound redneck??
Ed. Wang....
MV7, Andre Kendrick, Lee Suggs, Flowers Cam Chancellor, Grimm, Hall, Engelburger, Blake DeChristopher, Ryan Williams, Cornell Brown
Paul Debnam.
Now if you're restricting me to football players...
Tyrod Taylor (knew him in high school. Now if only he could get away from the Ravens....)
Cody Grimm, Danny Coale, etc. (Pretty much any walk-on who worked his ass off and earned a spot in VT lore)
Earnest Wilford (Put up with so much crap after his Miami drop, but went on to be one of the best ever Hokie WR's)
How about Vaughn Hebron & Michael Stewe
Ryan....Hash
Have to give a s/o to my current boss.. Keith Short
Jake Grove b/c he was on my recreational basketball team in 8th grade. We made it to the state tournament semifinals. Who knew that there were recreational basketball state tournaments?!?! We had a dude on our team that was literally putting up 35-40PPG.
Lamont Peguese, Anthony Midget, Ike Charlton, shayne graham, td lee suggs, kevin jones, corey moore, macho harris, all the adibis, fullers, houseright, ben taylor, tapp, jason worilds, eddie royal, josh morgan, josh hyman, BRYAN RANDALL
Ah hell. I forgot one. Brandon Manning. Laid the lumber every time he lined up for a hit.
Tyrod Taylor
Cedric Humes
Ryan Williams
Jarrett Boykin
Eddie Royal
Greg Boone
Jake Grove
Ed Wang
Duane Brown
Darryl Tapp
Xavier Adibi
Ben Taylor
Vince Hall
Lewis Brothers
Aaron Rouse
New: Kyle Fuller, Antone Exum
Anthony Midget
lol I could go forever
Listen, I'm going to do this regardless of the consequences:
Sean Glennon is one of those guys for me. Listen I get it. He fucked up (e.g. Georgia). At the same time, the offense system Stiney put together didn't maximize his abilities. His offense line was awful. He really wasn't given a fair chance.
At the same time, he was a massive douchebag off the field (e.g. when he told the TOTS bouncer who wouldn't let him him because he was 20 "I'm Sean Glennon, I run this town. Let me in".) He had the pocket presence of a dining room table. He didn't carry the respect of his peers. But he was my douchebag. He actually wasn't that bad of a QB and I think people give him a lot more shit than he actually deserves...granted that shit was warranted because we had statistically speaking the best defense in the country when he was QB, possibly the decade but that's besides the point...people are still being a massive dick to him post-Virginia Tech and I think that's completely unwarranted.
#BENICETOSEANGLENNON
I agree that the people who still bash him are complete dicks. I've heard of people yelling "You suck!" at him on the streets, and that is both classless and beneath us as Hokie fans. I agree with you, he wasn't that bad of a QB. I tried to like Glennon, but it was much easier to blame him for our shortcomings; especially given the fact that the 2006 team had an All-ACC tailback, 4 future NFL wide receivers and the nation's #1 defense. He also didn't help himself with his attitude off the field; I remember a Collegiate Times article where he completely bashed his O-line, saying that if he had BC's O-line, he'd be putting up numbers like Matt Ryan.
I will say that I gained more respect for him as time went on. It was nice to know during the 2008 season that if Tyrod went down with an injury (which happened quite often) that we had a reliable QB that could step in and lead our offense.
So yes, I can see how Glennon could be a favorite of yours. People forget that he had some very solid wins for us, including the 2007 GT game and the 2007 ACC Championship game, in which he was named MVP.
This one's for you Sean!
I'm just gonna put the entire '99 team on here. Done.
Browning Wynn...no better first name!